Jack Prelutsky

Deep in Our Refrigerator

Deep in our refrigerator,there's a special placefor food that's been around awhile...we keep it, just in case.'It's probably too old to eat,'my mother likes to say.'But I don't think it's old enoughfor me to throw away.'

It stays there for a month or moreto ripen in the cold,and soon we notice fuzzy clumpsof multicolored mold.The clumps are larger every day,we notice this as well,but mostly what we noticeis a certain special smell.

When finally it all becomesa nasty mass of slime,my mother takes it out, and says,'Apparently, it's time.'She dumps it in the garbage can,though not without regret,then fills the space with other foodthat's not so ancient yet